The P/F Project Program is the centerpiece of the efforts by the VDDRC to attract young investigators to pursue research in gastrointestinal development and disease. To this end we have budgeted the maximum allowable funds to support P/F applications. These funds provide Vanderbilt investigators the opportunity to explore meritorious hypotheses related to digestive diseases with the ultimate goal being acquisition of external funding. The VDDRC P/F Projects Program funds applications annually. Awards are generally made for 1-2 year?s duration. An annual report is required to receive continued funding. Vanderbilt investigators must fall into one of the following categories to be eligible for P/F funds. These include: 1) young investigators requiring modest financial support to test hypotheses related to digestive disease; 2) investigators from non-digestive disease-related disciplines who plan to explore hypotheses related to digestive disease and 3) established investigators who plan to explore new hypotheses in digestive disease research that deviate substantially from their funded research. It is anticipated that the majority of applicants will fall into the first category; that is, junior investigators who require funding to test hypotheses that will ultimately have a high likelihood of competing for extramural funding. We received 12 complete P/F applications in response to this year?s announcement. They were evaluated and ranked by the P/F Project Review Committee including Director, Associate Director, Core Directors, Internal Advisory Committee and ad hoc reviewers. A modified NIH scoring system was used to assign scores based on the investigator, significance, approach, innovation, and "programmatic fit" within the Research Base of the VDDRC and environment. Once our VDDRC is fully funded by the NIH we expect to support 4-7 P/F Projects annually. Recipients will have free access to the Core Laboratories for their P/F Project work for the duration of support. The significant institutional development funds provided to attract new faculty to Vanderbilt to pursue gastrointestinal research will provide a long-term source of young investigators to apply for P/F funds. Furthermore, the significant response to our announcement by established scientists in other disciplines demonstrates the ability of the VDDRC to attract recognized investigators to pursue questions related to gastrointestinal disease.